Tutorials

When Google releases a new SDK it intentionally does not provide skins for any particular handset models. This is to emphasise the fact you are writing for a platform, one which has many particular implementations. However, it's really nice to have a skin for a handset you are interested in if for no other reason than to reassure yourself your app really does look good on it!

For a while there was no Nexus One skin, and then Tim Hoeck added one to his blog. Following the recent release of the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) SDK it was proving a little tricky to find one for the Nexus S, so we present ours here along with the steps needed to start making use of it. Together with the Gingerbread SDK, this amounts to a free (virtual) Nexus S!

A funny thing happened when I wrote my last app. This was a basic, local data-driven logging system which was entirely self contained. Some of the testers reported something odd - it asked for the permission to make phone calls on installation. Since I knew there was nothing in the app which did that, and I'd only added the android.permission.INTERNET requirement to the manifest, I knew I had to get rid of this warning. In this security-conscious climate, any app which asks for something so far out of whack with its obvious purpose probably isn't going to be installed, and all that hard work will have been for nothing. So what gives? The answer was rather subtle, and in solving it I came up with a useful tool which went beyond the original problem I was tackling, so I thought I'd document it here in case anyone else runs into it.

The Android SDK comes complete with impressive options to customise the appearance of its standard UI components. This technique can give your applications a polished and professional look without having to rely on custom drawing code. Your app can be instantly skinned with a makeover which changes every part of its appearance. This isn't just for cosmetic reasons either - skinning can greatly assist internationalisation, or how about support for high-contrast UI's for the visually impaired. This is achieved using Androids Themes component - it's explained in detail by Google here. This article gives a quick feel for the powerful Themes techniques Android provides, with a few tips on real-world use along the way.

When developing apps which use the sensors, the more realistic the environment for testiing the better. The earlier SensorArrow tutorial showed how to create an app which uses the OpenIntents simulator to let you send events via a wireframe handset representation. This is great, and extremely useful in many situations, but it has some drawbacks. To complement it we present the SensorPlayer, an app to record and sensor movements from your physical device and replay them either back there or on the emulator.